Natasha Shantz
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Battle of the books: the physical versus the digital
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Gone are the days of lugging around your thick textbooks and heavy novels: Audiobooks and eBooks are here to help, with all the convenience that the digital age has to offer. While the demand for physical books has slowly been decreasing over the past decade, the demand for digital forms of reading has skyrocketed, and…
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Political cancel culture: Canada’s anti-Islamophobia advisor faces calls to back down after controversy
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Recently appointed to the new position of Canada’s anti-Islamophobia advisor by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, journalist and human rights activist Amira Elghawaby has already been subject to much abrupt and senseless backlash from the Quebecois government. The controversy around Elghawaby centers on a 2019 column that she and a collaborator published in the Ottawa Citizen.…
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Dating apps beyond the romance: finding platonic connections online
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I’ve always had a prejudice towards online dating. Maybe I’m an old romantic, or maybe I’m just cynical about today’s hookup culture. Either way, I refused to download any dating apps for the longest time. Let me preface this article by stating that I haven’t had any drastic changes of attitude…but I’m less skeptical about…
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Outside the binary of doom-scrolling and oblivion
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The mid-50-year-olds in my life always say that they doom scroll as soon as they wake up in the morning. It’s a habit that they also recognize the need to stop. From burning forests and wars, to shootings and political drama, the sadness and tensions of the world are inescapable for them. Simultaneously, my inherent…
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The rise and fall of Andrew Tate
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History has always provided a plethora of fragile male egos, but in the past few years, certain toxic figures have become hot-button topics. It would not be unsurprising to name Andrew Tate as the 21st century’s leader of controversial men on the Internet. But after his arrest for human trafficking charges on Dec. 29, Tate’s…
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What is lacking in the discussion about LGBTQ+ hate crimes
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Content warning: this article mentions violence. I feel gutted every time I hear about another shooting, and yet, horribly, it shouldn’t come as a surprise. The Nov. 19 attack on the Colorado venue Club Q, where the shooter killed five people, is just one of many fresh wounds from which the LGBTQ+ community is hurting. …
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Your Arts degree is more valuable than you think
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Choosing a career path is hard. Our own desires tend to conflict with what we are told by our families, friends and the messages around us. From the ages of eight to 18, I went through the following career obsessions: Writer, veterinarian, writer, photographer, actor, writer. You can see the common theme. Although I was…
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The pressure to consume and why thrifting isn’t as great as we think
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As I’ve moved past my dreadful teenage years of fashion and started to care about my personal style more and more, I’ve also begun to realize that having a decent-sized wardrobe is incredibly wasteful and ethically concerning. The amount of clothes I’ve felt the need to buy based on passing urges is ridiculous. I’ve bought…
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BeReal and an era of supposed online authenticity
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Alas, a new social media has come into our lives once again and has become all the rage with Gen Z. And surprise, surprise – I am here to complain about it. BeReal is an app developed in 2020 by two French techies that has gained massive popularity this past year, especially with Gen Z.…
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Diversity in “The Rings of Power” shouldn’t be controversial
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Prime Video’s new series, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has sent many fans into a racist backlash frenzy over the series’ casting of several Black characters. While the show’s diverse representation has indeed made headlines and fired up new interest in JRR Tolkien’s universe of noble quests, evil powers and magical…
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The Tie That Binds WLU Since 1926
Serving the Waterloo campus, The Cord seeks to provide students with relevant, up to date stories. We’re always interested in having more volunteer writers, photographers and graphic designers.